Fall of a Kingdom, Rise of An Empire
by fenril
Summary: story about zechs or milliardo. its on what happened w/ his family and the Academy, Noin and stuff
1. Default Chapter

6stories this took a while to write, its more on the serious side. if you don't like reading about dead ppl, then just stop here. well, since i have nothing more to say for now, enjoy the show.   
Disclaimer: i don't own anything mentioned except..., okay, i don't own anything now that i think of it.

Fall of a Kingdom, Rise of An Empire

The boy stood there, staring at the charred remains of once a majestic kingdom. Not all of it burned down, but parts of it. He walked through the piles of rubble and started to search frantically.

"Mother! Father!" The boy called out in his soprano voice. He ran up to the part that used to be his father's office. "Father?" His father wasn't in the pile. The blond haired boy ran to another section. He couldn't recognize the area but he still searched for his missing mother and father. Tears were streaking down his cheeks, bringing down the dirt that smeared his face.

There was a pool of blood under a piece of what was a part of a wall. Most of it was hidden, but you could still find it. The youth ran over and with all the strength in him, pushed the wall away as far as he could. Suddenly his eyes filled with tears until they couldn't hold any more and rolled down his cheek on their own. "Mo…mother." He barely even whispered it.

He found his father a moment later. He turned away, towards the afternoon sun and cried out what seemed to be a never ending 'no.' More bodies were found but he paid no heed. The corpses were still fresh so help would come eventually. He found a velvet curtain and wrapped himself in it against the breeze. Part of the curtain was stained in blood, but he didn't care and fell asleep.

_(dream sequence)___

_"What will her name be, father?" The boy tugged on his father's sleeve. "Father?"___

_The one he called 'father' was holding a baby. He looked down on the boy that was now younger than he was before. His father mouthed out a name. His father's face could not be seen because of the setting sun behind him.___

_"Father," the boy tugged on his father's sleeve again. "can I hold the her?"___

_His father's features softened from an originally stern look. He mouthed a 'yes' and handed the child over. The boy held the sleeping form and looked up at his mother.___

_"Smile." His mother said silently. She took a picture of the two siblings.___

_The opaque floor under him fell apart, but he was still standing. It kept falling apart until it made a circle around him. At the circumference, a wall of fire blazed up with his parents on the outer side of the circle. The child still slept.___

_"NOO! Mother! Father!" He reached out his hand towards them, but he could not move his feet. He looked down at his hands, stained in blood. At his side was his sister, but she was standing and grown up by maybe another year or so. He had also grown older by a year. When he looked up, everything around him was black and in front of him was a mirror. When he looked at his reflection, it was blurry but he could tell how it looked like.___

_The imagine looked like him, but with longer hair and a colder stare. The reflection looked older. The boy raised his hand to his face and in the mirror, the hand was covered in blood. He grew angry of the imagine before him and punched it, causing it to shatter. Simultaneously, everything around him shattered and his sister fell away.___

_He stood at the pile of rubble he was at before. He looked at a shadow that was cast in front of him. Maybe it was the sun that caused such a large shadow. He turned around to see a man, taller than he and the face was hidden. The sun was behind the man, but it gradually climbed higher, slowly revealing the face that seemed familiar. The man stretched out a hand.___

_"Milliardo. Come. Come to me." The man silently spoke. He kept saying the boy's name, but each time the voice became louder until it seemed like he was talking normally. "Milliardo. Milliardo…"___

_(end dream sequence)_

"Milliardo!"

The boy awoke to face the man calling out his name. "What?" His eyes hurt when he blinked and his clothes were covered in blood because of the curtain.

"We have come to take you with us. A prince should not sleep out here for the night. We will find you an adequate home but for now, we will shelter you." Milliardo had seen the man before. He was one of his father's friends that worked for the government.

Milliardo hesitated for a moment but got up. "All right." It was getting dark and stars could be seen in the eastern sky. "Um, where is my sister?" Milliardo was being lead by the hand.

"She's been taken care of. Someone adopted her already."

"Who? Who adopted her?" He was anxious to find out.

"We're not liable to tell you that." The man said coldly.

"But, she's my sister. I have the right to know." The boy argued.   
  
The man stopped walking. "Please don't be difficult at a time like this." The boy looked behind him to see what was once he called home. There were still people there, pulling up dead bodies and such, but most were retiring back home. "Come along now." The man pulled him to move.

Milliardo stayed at the man's home. After about a week, he received a call from a friend.

"Milliardo, I just heard about what happened. I'm terribly sorry."

"It's okay, it's not your fault." Milliardo shook his head.

"Yes, quite true. I'm sure you're sick of hearing about all this, but it can't be helped, can it?"

"I guess not. Especially if the media is involved." He looked out the window for a moment to make sure they weren't there. "So anyway Trieze, I heard you joined the Academy."

"Yeah, I did. It's only been one semester so far." Trieze was on one of the few breaks he had from the Academy.

"Why are you going there? That's a pretty prestigious military school."

"Well, I wanted to go. I want to be in the military and maybe one day, I'll even be a general and command my own troops. That would be pretty nice, but its probably not gonna happen." Trieze's language loosened a bit to be more casual sounding and more his age.

Milliardo let out a chuckle. "Knowing you, that will probably happen."

"Hm, maybe, maybe not. You should join, too. Not like you have anywhere in particular to go now. Besides, they're always looking for more people to train. Especially with this war ready to break out any moment."

"I guess I could, but that wouldn't really follow my father's ways, would it? The military and pacifism doesn't really mix together well." Milliardo wanted to say 'yes', but he still has his father's ideals in his mind.

"Yes yes, pacifism. Well, pacifism isn't going to be attained if there aren't any soldiers to fight for it. Otherwise there're just gonna be wars and nothing else." There was a silence. "How about you think about it?"

"All right, I'll think about it. When I have a definite answer, I'll call you. Bye." He hung up and loosened his back so it wasn't so tense. "I'll…think about it."

Later that day

"I'm thinking about joining the Academy." Milliardo was speaking with the man that was taking care of him.

"The Academy? Whatever possessed you to think about going there?" The man remarked snidely.

Milliardo rolled his eyes at the question. "Well, I was just thinking about it, that's all. Is it so bad to think?" Milliardo was going to continue, but the man cut him off.

"No, it's not but you come from a pacifist family and country. Going to the Academy will give your family a bad name." The man started to talk in way mothers talked to babies.

"My family's dead. You can't give a bad name to dead people." Milliardo retorted cynically. "Besides, nobody ever said I had to carry out my father's way after his death."

The man was appalled and slapped him across the face. "You know very well that is the duty of an heir! If your father was to hear such a thing, I'm sure he would do the same thing as I!"

"But I thought my father was a pacifist." Milliardo mocked the man but made sure he couldn't hear it.

"You also know that you're family isn't dead. Your sister is alive and well."

"But how do I know that? Won't even let me see her or know where she is." He mumbled under his breath.

"Now go get these silly ideas out of your head and go head upstairs and wash up. We have guests coming over tonight for dinner and I don't want them to see a prince filthy." The man turned him around and gave him a little push out the door.

The boy headed upstairs and slammed the room door. "Doesn't a prince have more rights then this?!" He picked up the phone and dialed the number written on a piece of paper.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Trieze? I'll be taking you up on that offer."

Evening came and so did guests. Most were renowned leaders in Europe while others were military leaders. Milliardo was washed and dressed and ready to leave any moment. Everything went like clockwork and Milliardo was polite to everyone that bothered to talk to him. The man gave him a few glances here and there but as the evening went, he stopped looking. When the time came, Milliardo went back into his room and gathered his few belongings. He went to the open window and started to climb down. There was an intricate carving under all the windows, so he used them as foot holdings. By the time he was at the bottom of the carving, he jumped down and landed hard on the grass. There was a dull thud but it couldn't be heard above the talking inside.

"Milliardo-sama. Over here." A voice whispered from the shadows. The boy turned towards the shadows and ran towards the voice.

"Thank you for meeting me here." Milliardo bowed.

"Do not mention it. Come along now before they start noticing." The boy nodded and followed. They got into a car and drove away. "I made the preparations that you had asked for. You'll be flying the 9:15 plane in first class.

"Thank you." Milliardo made sure he had everything and then adjusted his rumpled clothes. "Sorry to bother you at such a short notice."

"Not a problem at all, sir. Even though the Cavally's chauffeur was telling quite a story about one of the maids, a pantry and one of the kitchen servants, but I heard my share before." The driver let out a soft laughter ending with a smile hidden under his mustache.

"That seems like quite a story." The boy started to drift off until finally he gave in and fell asleep.

_(dream sequence)___

_Two children are playing in a mansion with the light coming in from a window that went from the ceiling to the floor. The two are playing with toys and blocks.___

_"Lets make a city. I'll be the one that rules over the people and you can be my helper. You'll be second in command." The older boy spoke. "From there, we can slowly build a bigger city."___

_"Then we'll end up building a city big enough to cover the entire world!" The younger one responded but he seemed like he was complaining more then agreeing.___

_"You'll help me, won't you?" The boy stopped building.___

_The other stared at him as if forgetting who the other boy was. He lightened up and started to build the city. "Sure I will! And no one will stop us." A third child appeared out of nowhere and was younger than both boys. The third child was a girl and she watched the other two build. Eventually, she started to crawl away and then towards the younger boy and try to stop him from building.___

_"Hm..what is she doing?" the older one commented. "Milliardo. Wake up." The boy's voice changed from a soprano to a tenor. "Wake up."___

_(end dream sequence)_

"Milliardo-sama, wake up. We arrived at the airport." The driver was turned in his seat to look at Milliardo.

Milliardo looked out the window and rubbed his eyes. "Oh yeah." He unbuckled himself and gathered his jacket and duffel bag. "Thank you for the ride."

"My pleasure, Milliardo-sama. I hope to see you again." He bowed his head.

Milliardo was halfway out of the car. "Yes, hopefully. And when we do, we should fence again, Pargan." He closed the door, waved goodbye and walked into the airport.

While on the plane, he kept his duffel bag with him. He pulled out some money and a note. The note was from Pargan, telling him which hotel to check into and other needed information. From the hotel, he would call Trieze and figure out a way to reach the Academy.

The city he arrived at wasn't as large as the one he just came from, but the area was still lively around the hotel. The Academy was at least ten miles away from the city which is the closet city to the military school. Milliardo called Trieze but no one picked up. An hour later, he tried again.

"Trieze, I'm at that city you were telling me about."

"You are?" Trieze sounded shocked and surprised. "Why? How?"

"What do you mean why? To go to the Academy. There was a dinner at that house tonight, so I escaped while everyone was talking. Pargan gave me a lift to the airport and made all the necessary preparations." Milliardo was sitting on the bed with his feet dangling a few inches off the ground. "So how do I get there?"

"Well, I guess you could take a cab or something, but that's gonna cost you." They both fell silent. "Oh, in two days, some of the students are coming into the city, sorta like a class trip. I'm going to be one of them. We're doing some observations so it'll be pretty boring, but you can meet up with me and then when we head back, you can come with us. We'll be leaving the city after we eat lunch, so you'll be back by nightfall at the very least."

Milliardo hesitated to agree. This decision meant whether or not he would become a soldier or stay a prince. He shrugged and agreed. In two days, they would meet for lunch at some fancy and expensive restaurant.

Two days passed with a hitch (whatever that means) and Milliardo was waiting for the group of soldiers at the door of the restaurant.

"Milliardo! Hey! Over here!" Milliardo turned to see a group of teenagers running towards him. After everyone introduced themselves, ate lunch and headed back to campus, Milliardo prepared himself for the interview that was given to everyone that applied to the school.

"You know, Mil, the police are looking for you, but the search is dying down. You sure you wanna apply with your name like that?" Trieze was sitting next to "Mil" in the back of the jeep.

"Hm.. I'll give that some thought later. I'll keep this name for now." Trieze gave Milliardo a rundown of the kind of questions they would be asking him. When they arrived, it was already 2 o'clock. Trieze brought Milliardo to the admissions office and gave him an application. The person in charge of the admissions department wasn't very busy that day, so the interview was only a few hours later.

"Milliardo Peacecraft, huh? Well, I'm surprised your here and I'm sure you know why already. No one objected to this?" the head of admissions asked.

"One person objected. I only asked one person, but that person doesn't know I'm here and I would like to keep it like that, if you don't mind." Milliardo tried to keep his posture, but the chair he sat in made him want to just lean back and enjoy the interview.

The man mumbled something incomprehensible and reviewed the rest of his application. "You are a bit young to be starting now. You do know that, don't you?"

"Yes, but I was hoping you could make an exception." Milliardo negotiated with him.

"Well, considering the situation, I suppose I could pull a few strings here and there. I doubt anyone would really mind. We're right in the middle of a semester, so you'll have to wait until it's over." He was looking at a small calendar beside his arm. "Yes, it's only about two more months until it's over. You could attend the summer sessions if you'd like."

Milliardo found the interview utterly boring and almost nothing like what an interview was supposed to be. "I'll think about the summer sessions. I'll be dorming here, right?"

"You don't have any where else to go, correct? So yes, you will be. Until we find you a permanent dorm, you'll be staying in the guest houses. I'm sure that is perfectly all right with you."

"Yes, that will do just fine."

"Then welcome to your new home."   
***

yeah, the title doesn't really go with the story but i didn't know how to end it really. i didn't want to keep going cuz the story was already this long so i hope you enjoyed it, you could tell i was running out of ideas along the way. review? onegai? ¿por favor? ok then, ja ne. *whispers* please? 


	2. The Girl with Purple Hair

6stories2 i really don't know why i continued this story...boredom perhaps? anyway, i spent a lot of time on this, kinda. but uh...nothing weird happens, just how milliardo meets noin and all that stuff.   
Disclaimer: GW belongs to the Sotsu Agency, not me. i only wrote the story, nothing else.

The Girl With Purple Hair

"So the then you label the parabola here, that should be a seven, not a one. So just put y=x2+4x-12 along the line or right next to it and don't forget…" the teacher rambled on about math.

Milliardo copied down the notes diligently, but he was bored. He stared out the window, at the leaves falling down and the birds resting on the branches. The sky was blue and clear of clouds with the sun at its zenith. He felt a breeze pass him, but the windows were closed. He looked to the other side and at the front where the teacher was. One of the students had gone up to answer the question on the board. He was sure it was a new student, he was there for almost seven years and practically knew everyone.

"Very good, Lucrezia. Just label the axis's next time." The teacher corrected it for her. "You may sit down now." She passed by Milliardo on her way back. Milliardo turned his head to see that she sat in the next row and four seats away. "Tonight, read the next chapter and do all the questions at the end. Class dismissed."

The classroom cleared out and headed towards the cafeteria. Milliardo sat with his friends but kept an eye on Lucrezia. He saw that she sat by herself and sympathized for he also knew the feeling.

"Hey guys, who's that girl over there?" Milliardo pointed to Lucrezia.

Everyone turned to see. "Oh her. She's some new transfer student from some place in Italy I think. She's been here for a few months, not very sociable. I heard she's a good pilot, but I have yet to see that for myself." One answered.

"Why? You like her or something?" The boy sitting next to Milliardo leaned towards him and nudged him with his elbow.

Milliardo pushed him away and answer hastily, "No, I just noticed her today in class. I didn't know who she was, so I'm just asking. Nothing wrong in that."

"He's probably gonna go befriend her." One started to say to another.

"Yeah, he's always so friendly to everyone and wants everyone to be his friend." The other responded.

"So I'm friendly! I don't want everyone to be alone or something." Milliardo defended himself. "Here, I'll go talk to her now." He got up and walked towards her empty table. "Hi, I'm Milliardo Peacecraft."

She looked up for a minute and back down at the book she was reading. "Hello."

He was taken back at the cold greeting but he wouldn't give up. "Mind if I sit here?" He started to pull out the chair across from her.

"No." She didn't bother to look up this time.

"So, what's your name?" Milliardo felt uncomfortable with the way she was handling the situation.

She stopped and examined his face. Milliardo didn't have much of an expression on but he didn't make a face when she looked at him. "Lucrezia Noin, but I'd rather be called Noin."

"I see. You like to be alone?" Milliardo stopped his sentence because he didn't want to sound too nosy, but it was too late. Either way, she didn't seem to mind to question.

"It makes no large difference to me. If I'm alone, I'm alone. I'm not going to make a big effort not to be. But like everyone else, I'd rather be with someone." She didn't look up and kept on reading.

"I'll be your friend then, if you don't mind." She let out a sigh as if she was annoyed.

"Go ahead."

Milliardo tried to keep her company when he could and make her less antisocial. It was hard and grueling work, but he noticed it was working, little by little. He found out she had a love for nature and found her reading outside under the shade of a tree once.

"So why are you doing this?" Noin asked him once outside and under the same tree.

"Doing what?" Milliardo stared at the sky. They were alone and a little far from the buildings.

"Keeping me company. I mean, you could be with your friends right now." Noin's book was on her lap and closed for once.

"Because I don't want you to be lonely." Milliardo started to look at other things. Most of the leaves had fallen already and gave them a nice cushiony feel but with bugs everywhere. But since this is in an anime, there are no bugs!

"Lonely? I doubt you would have noticed me if I hadn't gone up to the board that day in math." Noin closed her eyes and had a content feeling in her. "I might have been antisocial and quiet, but I observe."

"Hmph. Maybe, maybe not."

"Why me? There are so many people here, so why are you staying with me?"

Milliardo looked at her. Her eyes were still closed and they both leaned against the rough tree bark. He never did pay attention to the way she looked and he stared at her as if for the first time seeing her. Her hair was fine and had a purple tint to it. She kept it all to one side so it tended to cover part of her face and most of her large forehead. Her eyelashes brushed against the top of her pale cheeks.

"You're not gonna answer me?" Noin still didn't open her eyes. Milliardo was caught a bit off guard.

"What? Oh right. Well, I guess because I know the feeling of being alone like that. Everyone else has at least one friend, but you didn't seem to have anyone. It was the same with me the first time I was here, but then I got to be more sociable." Milliardo stared into space as he said this. A calm breeze pasted by that brushed some of him hair into his face. He started to grow it longer and was already at his shoulders.

"So exactly why are you here, Milliardo Peacecraft?" He didn't bother to ask what she meant since it was explained by mentioning his name.

"Trieze asked me to join. I wasn't supposed to, but people change. I was thinking about changing my name, but I don't know to what." Milliardo shifted uneasily because of the acorns he was sitting on. They were silent for a moment until Noin spoke up.

"How about… Zechs Merquise?" She opened her eyes and looked at him. Milliardo said the name over and over again.

"It has a nice ring to it. All right then! Tomorrow, or when I have time, I'll go change it to Zechs Merquise!" He seemed overly enthusiastic about it. She didn't seem to find anything enthusiastic about the name. The moment was interrupted by an announcement made.

"All students report to the mobile suit battle grounds at 1500 hours."

Milliardo looked at his watch to check the time. "1500 hours, huh? Well, there's still an hour left." Noin started to stand up and brush debris off her uniform. "You wanna walk there and kill an hour?" She shrugged and started to walk, no bothering to wait for him.

They took one of the more deserted routes there. They passed by a few people, but not as many as they usually would. "So why did you join the Academy?" Milliardo asked. Noin kept silent, as if he hadn't said anything at all. He was about to ask it again until she opened her mouth.

"Why? Well, I heard the Academy trained people to go into outer space and fight or research up there. That's why I wanted to join, I want to be one of those people going to space. Ever since I was little, I always liked to look at the stars," she looked up at the sky, "and imagine what it would be like to be out there.. To be away from earth, from all the fighting and wars and competition. I don't like wars." She looked down at the path.

Millardo smiled at how much she revealed. "You don't like wars? But the Academy is more of a place for fighting then going out to space. You coulda joined some research team that goes out to space of become an engineer and built space colonies. You're just learning how to fight here."

Noin gave it a moments thought. "But if I fight, it could end the fighting earlier. I'm not saying I'm a good pilot, but one more person on the battlefield could make a difference."

At the mobile suit battle grounds, all the students stood in the field while one of the captains were talking on a podium in front.

"Starting next week," the captain was practically shouting into the microphone, "we will be having our annual mobile suit tournament. It is mandatory to enter unless you can give us a good reason why not. A **_GOOD_** reason! Not a 'I-can't-play-in-gym-today-and-my-mommy-wrote-a-note-for-me' reason! Got it?!" The soldiers responded with a very serious 'yes sir.' The captain continued with the details of the battle ending with the classical 'any questions' question.

The next week, all the students assembled by their mobile suits and waited for instructions. Different students went to different battle grounds and multiple combats occurred at once. In one day, all soldiers have fought in one battle at least. And for the next 5 days, Noin and Milliardo have beat everyone of their opponents. The 6th day was the last day of the tournament. The semi-finalists would battle to determine the finalists who would then battle to declare the best pilot.

"Lets see who I'm fight against now." Milliardo was in his Leo, waiting for his opponent. Those that were fighting weren't allowed to find out who they were fight against until they were defeated. The other Leo came up in front of him and waited for the captain to commence the fight.

Noin was patiently waiting in her Leo. "Never thought I would make it this far. I wonder who I'm fighting. Stupid people, won't let us find out until we lose ..but if did find out, we might be kinder in our fighting." The sound of the captain's voice filled the cockpit of everyone's Leo since even those that lost were told to stay in their Leos to prevent injuries and give them a better view of the fight.

"All fighters! Get ready to begin!" The sound of the buzzer bell thing that you hear at the Olympics swimming in real life. The battles began along with the cheering that the fighters didn't hear.

Milliardo charged at the other Leo and tried to slash off its left arm, but it was blocked easily enough. He quickly slid his beam saber down the side to slice off its legs, but the other started to go for his shoulder.

Noin charged in and pushed her opponent away with her elbow while trying to cut off part of its arm but she got grazed by the other beam saber. She was only able to damage the shield.

Milliardo backed away from his opponent and immediately started to run forward. The battle was pretty much a tie until he caught the Leo off guard. The Leo's severed arm fell to the ground while Milliardo proceeded to attack further. He knocked the beam saber out and cornered it with his saber at its neck. The captain's voice declared victory for Milliardo.

"Hey Noin! Noin!" Milliardo was running towards the skinny Italian. She turned around. "Did you win?" She shook her head. "Oh, well you made it pretty far."

"The person I was fighting against just kept attacking, gosh, doesn't know when to stop!" Noin complained. Milliardo laughed and headed back towards his suit at the sound of the captain's voice.

"Wish me luck, kay?!" Milliardo called back. Noin only smiled. She looked down at the paper she was handed a moment before. It had all the competitions and the names. She looked at where she lost and saw who she fought against.

"Hmph, he just doesn't know when to stop." Noin pocketed the paper and climbed into her Leo.   
***   
what did you think? good? yeah, the ending isn't that great, but i didn't want to expand on it. thanx for reading, review if you'd like, etc. ja   



End file.
